Bell Memorial Auditorium, CSU@Chico
Ah… the halls of higher education. To be inside the bubble again…..
The day starts like so many others, with Paul’s feat of amazing bus/trailer skill. Today it’s backing into a construction area next to the “loading dock”. After unloading and watching the hands push everything up a steep ramp and then LIFT everything onto the dock (who designs college buildings?), the bus moves to the other side of the building where it will live for the day.
The room is a very large, empty, square space with a vinyl sheet on the floor. I trip on it 16 times during the day. The sound system is terribly inadequate, but all we have. Jack grumbles and chuckles all day.. but it still sounds damn good by show-time.
The dressing room is comfortable, well stocked, and comes with its own piano. Joseph latches on to it for most of the afternoon.
Victor does a master class in the the Music building next door. Earlier a student stops him on the street to tell him that he’s the best bass player at CSU and will be coming to the class. He does. He’s not.
Walk into town with Jack for dinner. Good BarB-Q.
Ted is unable to run the hazer due to smoke alarms, so the show doesn’t have the normal look, but I video tape the entire show anyway. At one point I notice that my merch girl seems to have dozed off. Finals are coming up.
After the show, Joe launches into “Unforgettable” on the dressing room spinet. Our student/local contact, seems to have rehearsed it for a Broadway show…. a la Ethel. Deeming lyrics unimportant and interchangable, she covers all twelve keys in the first verse…sometimes even in the same line, all at full stage performance volume. Joseph and I parody a favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon…(”la..la…yearn…la…”) and Derico retreats to the bus to listen to Shoobie Taylor. She’s hoping for a theater career in NYC after graduation this month.
Paul has moved the bus back into position by himself and we’re smoke in the rain by midnight. Our last overnight in a hotel before the final 2 shows. On to SF and LA…..
Filed under: TourBlog
